January 2014

I don't know if you are as blessed as we are, but we are truly blessed with the best friends one family can have.  I have been best friends with Lorie all of my life.  We were in the crib together, in our rooms playing girly stuff together, dated together, rode to high school every day together, and celebrated in weddings and babies together.  She brought her three boys over to play with the kids and boy was it fun!  Toby and Brooklyn have such an admiration for each other and Colson and Levi are a dangerous and inseparable pair when they are together!  Tracen just loves everyone and wants to be a part of everything with the big kids!  Loved our night together!

We had a VERY cold January...in fact a very cold winter entirely.  We celebrated Thanksgiving in 40 degree weather which is very unusual for us!  It carried over into January when we had 2 unexpected ice days off from school.  The first one was a Friday and we started getting the calls that class was cancelled at 4:30 and every 30 minutes until all three districts called us.  We had a day of laundry, cleaning, playing on the trampoline in the ice, hot chocolate, and a lot of reading and playing legos!
The second one was a Tuesday that was actually cancelled the night before.  We had SNOW!  The kids loved the little flurries...they would love to be in more!  That day was filled with Rainbow Looming (Brooklyn taught Colson), an installation of a new microwave, trampoline ice fun, gym, and tons of laundry!  Now to make up the days from school....yuck!

Girl Scouts visited Pottery Land in January.  It was such a fun time!  The girls molded clay, Brooklyn made a pinch pot and then they got to pick, paint, and tour the store.  Brooklyn chose a fish and painted it beautifully.  They got to then see how it is glazed and fired in the back of the store.  Very fun!

We LOVE to take the kids on hikes at Mercer Arboretum when the weather is nice.  We try to go once or twice a year even with our crazy busy schedule.  We had such a fun time running, walking, posing, reading the map, and spying on the raccoon.  They loved playing in the play area after!  Such a nice day!

Happy New Year!

This New Year's Eve was spent with awesome friends.  Meagan, Brian, and the kids came down from Prosper and stayed at Nick and Laurie's house.  We got together and grilled and let the kids play on the 30th, went to Bouncin' Bears on the 31st, and ordered pizza and played with fireworks that evening to ring in the new year!  We had a great time spending time with them!  A casual and laid-back few days spent with friends that are sisters to me!

This year has been a huge year for me personally.  I have made very large lifestyle changes that I am very proud of.  I started off the year at 194 pounds and am at 151 pounds now.  I am very proud of the work I have done and hope to continue to lose.  My first goal was 160, then 155, now I think I will go for 144 by the end of the year.  This will be 50 pounds lost and something I hope that I can maintain.  I have not have fast food of ANY sort in a year, no beef since Feb of last year, and have not had any soda either.  I am so thankful to Curt for encouraging me on this journey by allowing my gym time, my experimenting in the kitchen, and helping me to keep on the right track.  I LOVE YOU!